‘Roy sought time to talk to mother and shot himself in adjoining room’ 

C.J. Roy, founder of Confident Group, died by suicide during an Income Tax raid in Bengaluru, raising concerns over pressure.

C.J. Roy, founder and chairman of Confident Group, based out of Dubai, was in his hometown Bengaluru on a business visit when Income Tax sleuths raided his Group. While the raids had been on since Wednesday, Mr. Roy reached his Langford Town office on Friday afternoon. It was even while the raid was under way that he allegedly shot himself and died.

There is no clarity whether he was summoned by the IT sleuths.

His brother Babu C.J., speaking to media persons, said when he spoke to Mr. Roy on Friday around 11 a.m., he was in his office and “sounded normal”.

A senior police officer part of the probe said that as per their preliminary probe, the IT sleuths questioned Mr. Roy in the afternoon, after which he reportedly asked permission to make a phone call and talk to his mother. She stayed in Koramangala, where Mr. Roy was building a bungalow for himself, sources said.

Mr. Roy went into an adjoining room, from where he usually officiated as the Honorary Consul for the Slovak Republic for Karnataka and Kerala. Minutes later, people in the office heard a gunshot, sources said. Mr. Roy had shot himself in his chest with a pistol and was found lying in a pool of blood, sources said.

There is no clarity yet on how many rounds were fired and whether the firearm was licensed. Senior police officials said that the weapon would be subjected to a ballistic examination, and only that report would throw more light on the same. However, his brother Mr. Babu said that Roy had bought a pistol 20 years ago for self-protection and was licensed.